I. The Black Magic Marker
Suo drove his motorcycle cautiously, Himari sitting behind him. The air was calm as they neared the main gate of the residential district. Then, the atmosphere changed violently.
The evening air grew heavy and cold, thick with an unnatural stillness that muffled the street sounds. The nearby streetlights flickered erratically, buzzing as if struggling against an invisible, invasive force.
"Hima! What's happening with the lights?!" Suo yelled over the engine, his voice laced with confusion.
Before Himari could respond, a terrifying, unseen presence whipped past them. It was a sudden, chilling whoosh of aggressive Black Magic. Then, something struck Himari's back with a wet, shocking force. A dark, viscous liquid—heavy and foul-smelling—splattered across her jacket and the side of her helmet, dripping down onto Suo's back.
Suo felt the immediate, sickening warmth of the liquid. He slammed on the brakes, skidding the bike to a halt in the middle of the street. "Hima! What was that?! Are you okay?! Oh my god, Himari, what happened?!" he cried frantically, twisting around to look at her.
Himari was completely frozen. Her crimson-pink eyes were wide with an absolute, paralyzing terror. She looked down at her clothes, seeing the dark, staining fluid that resembled fresh blood, laced with residual, malevolent magical energy. She opened her mouth, trying to speak, to scream, but no sound came out. She was in complete shock.
Suo saw the look in her eyes and the horrifying stain. He didn't need a response. This wasn't an accident; this was a marker. They had been found. Suo slammed the handlebars over, executing a dangerous, high-speed U-turn, pushing the bike to its absolute limit, racing back toward the only magically shielded location he knew: he had to take her back house.
II. The Bloody Return
Less than three minutes later, Suo screeched the bike to a stop in the driveway. He kicked the stand down and ran, pulling Himari off the back of the seat.
They burst through the side door, stumbling into the living room where Haru was kneeling over the coffee table, surrounded by his specialized magical scanning equipment.
Haru looked up, ready to chew them out for their reckless speed, but the words died in his throat.
Himari was shaking violently, her face pale with shock. Her clothes, particularly her back and shoulder, were horribly stained with the dark, wet fluid that smelled of decay and raw magic.
Haru immediately jumped to his feet, discarding the equipment.
Haru: (His voice loud, urgent, and laced with disbelief) "What the hell happened?! What is that?! Himari, whose blood is that?!"
Suo stepped forward, shielding Himari slightly, his own face grim and scared.
Suo: "It's not blood, Haru. Not human blood. We were hit. Something... a tracking marker. It was Black Magic, Haru. They found her signature. I brought her back immediately."
Haru took one look at the sheer, paralyzing shock on Himari's face—the fact that she hadn't uttered a single defensive word—and knew the threat was immediately physical
III. The Immediate Priority
Himari stood rigid, paralyzed by the shock of the Black Magic Marker, the viscous, foul fluid staining her clothes. She couldn't speak, but her panicked eyes darted around the room.
Haru: (His voice loud, urgent, and laced with disbelief) "What the hell happened?! What is that?! Himari, whose blood is that?!"
Suo quickly stepped forward, shielding Himari slightly, his own face grim. "It's not blood, Haru. Not human blood. It's a tracking marker. They found her signature. I brought her back immediately."
Himari finally managed a choked whisper, her focus entirely on her current, filthy state.
Himari: "Wait... let me just change this. Where is Aunt?"
Haru: (Waving a hand dismissively, trying to force a sense of normalcy) "She right now left the house to deliver some files to Father. But that is not important right now."
Haru took a calming breath, knowing he had to address the horror while minimizing the terror to break her shock.
Haru: "Suo, take her upstairs. I'll give you Mumma's clean clothes, okay? Wait, don't be scared, okay? It's just blood. It's just a marker. It's not something very big."
He spoke the words, knowing they were a complete lie. It was something very big and terrifying, but he needed to trick Himari's mind into focusing on the simple, immediate task of cleaning up.
Suo immediately took charge of the physical task. He gently guided Himari toward the stairs, his voice low and soothing.
Suo: (Ignoring Haru's forced minimization) "Come on, Hima. Let's get these disgusting clothes off you. Haru, bring two large towels and meet us upstairs."
As Suo led the still-shaking Himari up the stairs, Haru's demeanor instantly shifted. The moment his cousins were out of sight, his face hardened into the cold, military mask Niel expected.
He didn't grab clothes or towels. He ran to the side table, grabbed the scanner, and raced to the spot where Himari had stood, frantically scanning the area where the Black Magic Marker had dripped.
Haru: (Muttering to himself) "A Black Magic Marker... they are actively tracking and marking the target. We have less than ten minutes before the full force of the Pact hits this location."
. The Unspoken Shock
Suo led the still-shaking Himari up the stairs and directed her into the guest room, where clean bedding and fresh towels were usually kept. He placed the clothes Haru had handed him on the bed, ensuring the door was shut, and then hurried to his own room to quickly change out of his own partially-splattered clothes.
He was back downstairs in less than a minute, his intense, dark eyes focused and worried. He found Haru hunched over the spot where the Black Magic Marker had dripped, furiously working the scanner.
"Haru, what is this happening? I never even listened to anything like this! What kind of marker—" Suo began, his voice low and strained.
"Later, Suo. Later. First, I need to check on her," Haru cut him off, his voice colder than before.
Haru grabbed the clean clothes he'd intended for Himari and hurried toward the guest room. He pushed the door open. Himari was still standing exactly where Suo had left her, just inside the room. She hadn't moved a muscle, hadn't touched the clothes, and hadn't attempted to wash up. She was a statue of pure shock.
"Hima. Himari, come on. Here, take these clothes. Go wash up, okay? Just wash that off, and then come downstairs. Don't be scared. Suo and I are both right here," Haru called her name in a low, calm, reassuring voice.
He took a step closer, holding out the clothes. Himari finally raised her head. When Haru looked into her crimson-pink eyes, the expression he saw was not anger or defiance, but a profound, empty shock—a look that told him she wasn't processing anything he was saying. The terror had burrowed deep, leaving her mind blank.
He walked up to her, dropped the clothes onto the bed, and gently took her hands. He squeezed them firmly—a grounding pressure designed to confirm her reality. "Go. Go wash up quickly, okay? Come downstairs." Haru waited until he saw the barest flicker of acknowledgement return to her eyes, and the slightest, almost imperceptible grip return to her hands. He then released her and left the room without another word.
The moment the guest room door closed behind him, the facade shattered. His face instantly reverted to the grim, high-pressure mask of a military operative under siege.
Haru didn't pause. He grabbed a small, obsidian shard from his kit—a magical conductor designed to draw out dangerous, unstable energy. "Get me the Salt Circle supplies from the emergency kit, now! We don't have time," he told Suo, his voice sharp and focused.
He knelt over the dark, viscous stain on the floor. The stench of raw, hostile magic was stronger here. The Pact wasn't just tracking her; this was a Curse Marker—designed not just to locate, but to leave residual fear and drain her energy. Haru focused his breath, channeling his Wind Magic. He raised the obsidian shard, pointing it directly at the stain. Casting a counter-spell to erase active Black Magic was extremely dangerous, especially inside a house.
"Vindicta, Solvo, Absolve."
A blast of pure, crystalline Wind Magic shot from the shard and slammed into the black marker. The marker didn't dissipate; it resisted. The liquid seemed to bubble and claw at the air, emitting a high-pitched, almost silent magical shriek. The battle of energies made the air crackle. Haru felt the raw, corrupting force of the Black Magic pushing back, straining his reserves.
"We need more power! This is stronger than a mere tracker!" Haru gritted his teeth.
Suo, having just rushed downstairs, looked at Haru's frantic struggle and the bubbling, sinister stain on the floor. "Haru, what are you doing?! What are you talking about, salt? What kind of—" Suo's dark, intense eyes were wide with confusion and concern.
"That stupid cult is too fking old! They're using these stupid old methods! As I told you or not—they f**king need our magic, they don't have their own!" Haru snapped his head up, his voice dangerously loud, fueled by anger and effort. He didn't wait for a response, his focus immediately returning to the struggling counter-spell. "Now bring what I asked for, understood? No more questions! I'll explain everything later, got it? And for the salt... we need to use these stupid old, ancient type rituals, not normal things! Got it?"
The volume and raw frustration in Haru's voice made Suo instantly understand the gravity of the situation. "Understood. The emergency kit, Salt Circle supplies. I'm on it!" Suo dashed out of the living room, heading toward the utility closet where Haru kept his specialized field equipment.
Haru channeled every ounce of his energy into the Wind Magic spell. The black stain began to shrink infinitesimally, but the resistance was brutal. His hand trembled, and sweat beaded on his forehead. "Vindicta! Solvo!" The Black Magic Marker suddenly pulsed—a violent magical surge that knocked Haru back a foot, slamming him against the wall. The Obsidian Shard flew from his hand, clattering uselessly on the floor, and the black marker grew back to its original size, seemingly energized by his failed attempt.
Before Haru could recover, Suo rushed back into the room. He didn't waste time checking on Haru; he saw the Marker growing and the obsidian shard lying abandoned. He was clutching a large, battered wooden box marked with runic symbols.
"I got it! What do I do? Spell? Chant?" Suo slammed the box down, pulling out a sack of coarse, grey, rock salt.
Haru slid back toward the stain, grabbing the edge of the sack from Suo. He was physically depleted, but mentally focused. "The chant is too long. We do it manually. Circle it. Use the salt to draw a protective circle around the marker, immediately! We need to isolate it before the Pact gets a final ping!"
Suo instantly grabbed the sack. Haru, recovering from the powerful magical blow, was already directing him. "The chant is too long. We do it manually. Circle it. Use the salt to draw a protective circle around the marker, immediately!"
Suo began pouring the coarse, grey salt from the sack, his intense, dark eyes focused entirely on the task. The salt was heavy and difficult to control, creating a rough, uneven line around the sinister, pulsating black stain.
"Listen to me carefully, Suo. Don't tell Mumma about this, okay? She'll just get worried, and that will only make Himari more scared. She's already fragile," Haru instructed in an urgent, low tone, working alongside Suo.
"Got it. Mumma is out delivering files. I won't tell her," Suo replied, pouring the salt steadily.
"And when Himari comes down, don't show her that this is serious. Act normal. She's already scared, okay? We need to keep her stress level down."
As the rough circle of salt finally enclosed the Black Magic Marker, the substance reacted violently. The black fluid inside the circle didn't just resist; it screamed. A high-pitched, ear-splitting whine of pure magical anguish erupted, vibrating through the floorboards and making the surrounding air shimmer. The black stain violently pulsed and clawed outward, sending small, wet tendrils of corrupting magic against the barrier.
"Haru! It's reacting!" Suo gasped, his muscles locking up in resistance.
The sudden, piercing magical shriek was too loud, too unsettling to contain. The sound immediately reached the staircase. The guest room door flew open, and Himari rushed out. She had managed to quickly pull on a large, loose sweater and some sweatpants belonging to her Aunt, but she hadn't paused to towel-dry her hair. She slid to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, staring wide-eyed at the two brothers kneeling on the floor, battling the screaming black pool encased in a ring of salt.
The shock from the bike ride was gone, replaced by immediate, high-octane adrenaline and terror. "What—what are you doing?! What is that sound?!" Himari's voice shook, strained.
Haru flinched, recognizing the immediate failure of his plan to keep her calm. He looked up at her, seeing the fresh wave of panic in her eyes, and knew he had to act instantly to contain the psychological damage. "Stay back! It's a Black Magic Marker! It's trying to—" he yelled over the magical shriek.
Before Haru could finish the explanation, Himari suddenly stumbled forward, ignoring their shouts. Driven by a desperate need to know what was attacking her, she rushed toward the circle. She didn't try to touch it; she just leaned over the boundary, trying to get a closer look at the writhing black substance.
"No... I recognize that sigil. That's the Pact's signature... they used a Psychic Leech," Himari whispered, her voice dangerously low.
The revelation was critical: the marker wasn't just locating them; it was actively attacking Himari's mind, feeding on her fear and stress.
"Stay back! It's trying to—" Haru yelled.
Suo acted with lightning speed. He didn't bother trying to save the Salt Circle; saving Himari was the absolute priority. He lunged forward, sweeping his arm around her waist and hauling her backward in one swift, protective motion.
"Get away from it!" Suo yelled, stumbling backward with her until they were several feet from the writhing magic.
The sudden movement and the physical jolt seemed to break through the final layer of the Leech's influence. The adrenaline brought Himari crashing back to reality.
"Himari, let's go! In the living room! Now!" Haru instantly commanded, his face grim. He grabbed her arm, and together, they half-walked, half-dragged her away from the kitchen doorway and into the main living area, pulling up an armchair for her. Suo quickly followed, placing himself defensively between the kitchen and Himari.
Once Himari was settled, tucked into the armchair with a blanket around her, Haru knelt in front of her. His professional demeanor was back, overriding his relief.
"Himari, I may sound rude, but we need to know the extent of the damage. When you got injured, you were talking about someone holding your neck. Could you show me?" Haru's voice was serious, direct, but calm.
Himari hesitated for only a second. She trusted Haru and Suo, especially after witnessing the Marker attack. She slowly lifted her hand and swept the left side of her hair aside, exposing the injured area of her neck and temple.
Haru leaned in close, Suo hovering anxiously behind him. What they saw instantly drove the concern in Haru's eyes to a new level of cold, sharp seriousness. Above the fading bruise on her temple, and along the side of her neck, were several deep, discolored fingerprints. But directly over her collarbone, beneath the thin, adhesive bandage, was something far worse.
Haru gently peeled the bandage back. There, branded onto her skin, was a complex, swirling symbol—a dark, intricate mark that pulsed faintly with residual energy. It was clearly a magical seal.
"What is that?! Is that a brand?" Suo gasped, his intensity escalating into fear.
Haru ignored Suo, his voice dangerously low, speaking to himself. "That's a Binding Seal... combined with a Restraint Sigil. They didn't just grab you; they tried to bind your core magic."
Haru carefully touched the area. The skin was cold and dry, showing that the seal had been active and aggressive. He looked back at the fingerprint bruises surrounding the seal. The size and depth of the prints confirmed the extreme force used by the attacker.
"This changes everything. Himari, you need to tell us every single detail about the person who did this. They weren't trying to scare you; they were trying to neutralize you completely," Haru said, his eyes now conveying the full, grave seriousness he had tried to hide.
Himari let out a weary, deep sigh. Her exhaustion wasn't just physical; it was the fatigue of constantly battling high-stakes dangers that no one else her age faced. She looked at Haru and Suo with dead eyes, confirming that this level of trauma was simply not something new for her.
She explained, her voice surprisingly normal and flat, as if recounting a dull history lesson: "As I told you, I went and I took that book. After reading it for a while, I noticed it was already dark. When I tried to open the door—the main door, to leave the restricted section—the lights went off. And as I tried to open the door, there... I may sound like a madwoman, but I am sure there was no one there. And then, suddenly, someone held my neck from behind so tightly that I lost consciousness."
She paused, gathering her thoughts, her eyes briefly flicking toward the kitchen where the Black Magic Marker was contained. She touched the newly exposed Binding Seal, her fingers tracing the painful lines. "When I woke up, it was already the next day. I was at the house of one of my classmates. His father treated the injury. It was my friends DJ, Kiro, and Shouta—that group of friends—that was all that happened after that. Then, DJ and I came back to the dorm, then I called Suo, and then I was here. And what happened after that, you know."
Haru and Suo processed the timeline instantly. Himari had been abducted, held for an entire night, treated for a severe magical binding, and then released. The people who found her were an unsettling combination of her best friend (DJ) and the very security tech implicated in the blackout (Kiro).
"They didn't just knock you out; they branded you with a Binding Seal. That takes hours to set up and apply. The fact that the Seal failed—that you woke up—is why they had to use the cruder Psychic Leech marker on the bike," Haru said, standing up, his voice sharp with tactical realization. He knelt down again, looking at Himari. "Himari, who exactly is the classmate whose house you woke up in? And whose father treated you? We need a name."
"Yes, Hima," Suo urged, kneeling beside Haru, his voice full of urgency. "If they treated you, they are either your allies, or they were the ones who put that seal on you and regretted it. We need to know who this person is."
Himari suddenly chuckled out loud. It was a strained, hollow sound, but her eyes held a determined, almost defiant glint. "Hey. I know it sounds serious, but they are good people, okay? So don't be thinking about them, okay? They helped me. And first of all, I'm not that close with them, okay? So keep them out of this."
She completely dismissed the severity of the Binding Seal and the Black Magic Marker, her voice taking on a startling authority. She was done being the victim and was aggressively seizing control of the narrative.
"And Suo, you don't need to intervene in this, okay? Go and do your study. I already almost wasted too much of your time. We—I mean Haru and I—will do something about it, okay?" She had suddenly and unilaterally taken charge of the entire situation, effectively partitioning the brothers and dismissing Suo from the "adult" conversation.
Suo's intense, dark eyes widened in stunned offense at the sudden demotion and dismissal. "Excuse me? 'Go do my study'? Himari, I just brought you back from a Black Magic attack! And you just got branded by a—" His voice was thick with hurt and disbelief.
Haru, however, saw the move for what it was: a desperate attempt at compartmentalization. He knew fighting her now would only make her flee again. But he couldn't let her dismiss Suo or ignore the threat.
"Suo stays. We are a team, Himari. End of discussion," Haru said, standing up straight, his face utterly serious. He met Himari's gaze, challenging her authority directly while validating his brother. "And you don't get to tell us who is 'good people' when they've allowed you to be branded with a Binding Seal designed to kill your magic. We are operating under Niel's directive now. You will answer my questions clearly, or I will bypass you and question DJ and Kiro myself. Who is the classmate?"
Himari's face went pale. The threat to involve Niel and question her friends was the only thing that bypassed her wall of control. "It was... Shouta. The house belongs to Shouta's family."
Himari stood up from the armchair, her body rigid, her crimson-pink eyes blazing with a sudden, furious energy that overshadowed the earlier shock. She didn't walk away; she confronted them head-on, lashing out at Haru's skepticism and Suo's presence.
"What do you mean, 'the people'? They are not people—they are my classmates, okay? And I am not going to make the same mistake again just because in your eyes they are suspicious, got it? They are good people! I also need friends!" She drew a ragged breath, the suppressed pain of years boiling over. "Suo, leave the room! I mean it!"
Haru looked at Suo, intending to order him out of the room because this was clearly about the old family trauma that Suo didn't share. Suo, however, didn't move an inch, his intense, dark eyes fixed on Himari, sensing the real emotional core of her outburst.
Himari didn't wait for the room to clear. She continued, her voice cracking with years of built-up hurt: "You and that person—do you remember? Because of your two's suspicion, I always had to live alone! I got no friends! I am also a human being! If your friend betrayed you, what should I do? Why are you thinking everyone has the same friends?" She threw her hands up in exasperation.
"You, Niel, Aika, Rin, Maria—you all lived your life freely! But look here, I am bound by that stupid thing! Why always I have to suffer? I am also tired of trying, trying again and again! Do you have any idea?" Tears finally welled in her eyes, not from fear, but from bitter loneliness. "You both left after your studies were done. Do you know how I spent years alone in Black Cyprus, in boarding school, without a single friend? Do you know how many people bullied me? No, you don't! Neither you were there, nor my family, nor my so-called friends, you and that Maria and Niel! Yeah, you were never there!"
Her voice dropped to a fierce, shaking ultimatum. "So now I also don't need you! I also want to live my life freely, like a normal human being, okay? So don't intervene! Don't bring my classmates into this! And I warn you—if you tell Niel about my classmates, then I swear I am not this time going to forgive you all!"
Himari didn't wait for Haru's or Suo's reply. Driven by raw, emotional fury, she spun on her heel and walked rapidly across the living room carpet. She wasn't wearing slippers, and her hurried, bare footsteps were the only sound in the tense room. She went straight to the guest room—the space she had just briefly occupied—and slammed the door shut with full, echoing force.
The resulting silence was absolute, broken only by the distant hum of the Black Magic Marker contained in the kitchen.
Suo was the first to react, his intense, dark eyes wide with shock and disbelief. He looked at Haru, who remained standing, his face an utterly blank mask that seemed full of regret and pain.
Haru slowly moved to the couch and sank onto it, the weight of Himari's accusations crushing him. Suo immediately sat beside him.
"Haru, what happened there? To her? Could you please tell me? I am so much confused. And who is this Niel and Maria she was talking about?" Suo asked, his voice low and urgent.
Haru didn't look at him. He stared at the wall, seeing only memories. "It all started from Cyprus, Suo. And it all happened to her because of us. Because of us. If we three of them—Niel, Maria, and I—hadn't left her alone, just because of a stupid prank, she never would have had to face that much trouble."